Security
by lupine-eyes
Summary: The Invisible Woman visits a super-villain in his prison cell. May be slightly OOC. T for strong language and violence.


A/n: Inspired by all the uses Sue could have for her force fields if she really thought about it. May be slightly OOC. And it is unbeta'd, so I apologize for any typos.

* * *

He heard the soft pitter-patter of feet against the concrete floor of his cell, slow even strides, the repetition of which woke him from his fitful sleep. It's not every night someone goes for a walk in your six by six foot room.

But when he opened his eyes, no one was there.

He turned over in his bed, but the sound persisted, a steady gait, over and over and over again.  
Finally, it clicked, and just as he was about to scream something clamped over his mouth, and just for insurance, gripped his wrists and ankles. They pulled his limbs as far apart as they could go without dislocating anything, leaving him just this side of uncomfortable. He struggled against them as the intruder dropped her own field, but they were simply too strong. He couldn't move an inch.

"Ah ah ah," The Invisible Woman said softly. The spotlights outside the prison that came through the barred window highlighted her blonde hair, svelte body encased in that signature uniform, and her blue, blue eyes, over which one pale eyebrow arched. Her lips curved in a cruel smile, and a shudder of terror ran through him.

"Can't let you let the guards know I'm here, can I? You'd ruin all my fun."

She leaned against the windowed wall, and looked down at him. "Afraid already, are we? Interesting, though not entirely unexpected."

She tutted under her breath, running a distracted hand through her hair. Wondering where to begin.

"Everyone always underestimates me, you know that? I suspect that even now, your fear is more from being startled than from anything else. My own brother calls my powers 'lame' at every turn. Everyone always forgets that there are… more creative ways to use what the cosmic rays gave me, than mere protection and evasion. Well, if Reed ever put his mind to it, he might figure it out, but his head is always filled with his latest project. Absent-minded professor to a fault."

"But I digress. Don't I? Look at me, monologue-ing. I've been spending too much time around Doom. And you're probably wondering why I'm here, aren't you?"

She eased up on the clamp just enough that he could nod frantically, though his lips were still frozen in place. "You threatened the lives of my family, don't you remember? You nearly killed my brother, the man I love, and my best friend. All I have in this world. You threatened my life, too, but for all Ben's physical resilience, he can be overcome with the right angles, the right application of pressure. That's true for my traditional force fields as well, but in a pinch, if I _really _concentrate, they can withstand almost everything. I would have survived your little assault, alive if not undamaged. And you would have left me alone in the world.

"That is something I cannot forgive."

She strode closer to the cot that served as his bed, peering down at his prone body with a studied indifference. "People also tend to forget that I've also obtained my share of doctorates. I may not be the absent minded professor type like Reed, and I certainly don't have his inability to connect with others. And yes, I don't have as many as he does." She chuckled softly, her eyes gaining that far-away look of remembrance. "He got carried away, I think. I mean, a doctorate in Engineering? Even the most accomplished engineers will tell you you only need a Masters. But where was I…

"Ah. My own accomplishments, for once. I'm a doctor of Psychology, yes, that soft social science my father would have frowned upon, but also Biochemistry. And the thing about biochemistry is that one must have an intimate knowledge of biology first. Chemistry as it applies to living things is useless if one doesn't understand those living things. As such, the human body is no mystery to me.

"Did you also know that I can form my force fields in any size or shape?" She smiled, "I sometimes think I could defeat all of our foes before anyone gets hurt. It would be easy, you know. So very easy, to place the smallest of orbs in one's aorta. Death by oxygen loss is extremely painful, I've heard. Or I could manifest one inside the brain. Aneurysms are no fun either. Or, if I'm feeling particularly wronged, I could place one anywhere, and just rapidly expand it. Ah, but one doesn't want to be too messy, right? Blood is so difficult to get out of fabric."

"Alas, that type of warfare is looked down upon. 'We become just like them,' and all that. And even Reed would notice the pattern if it happened often enough. But even without resorting to that finality, there are so many ways I could end most of our battles before they begin. Then, we couldn't have my teammates feeling useless, can we? Johnny alone would go absolutely stir-crazy.

"So perhaps it's for the best. But you villains, you always come back eventually, don't you? You escape your prisons, and come after us. Who knows, perhaps next time you'll even succeed. Reed likes to believe in the fundamental goodness of all humanity, that perhaps you'll change your ways, use your powers for good and all that.

"But I've seen you. All of you, coming back time and time again. You never learn. So I'm going to have to teach you an irrevocable lesson."

His eyes got wide as the implication of her words sunk in. It had been so easy to believe she just wanted to talk. After all, who'd ever believe that a member of the Fantastic Four had come into his incredibly secure cell in the middle of the night and confessed that she sometimes thought about killing people?

How the fuck had she gotten in there anyway, since even _he _couldn't get out? He, who had almost destroyed the Fantastic Four time and time again, who had the city at his mercy?

He tried to scream, but the band against his mouth was too tight, so that not even his lips could move.

It was slow. Careful. She was a surgeon going to task, and just because he couldn't see the weapon didn't mean he couldn't feel it, the effortlessly sharp blade parting his flesh, stabbing into his heart. He struggled against the bonds that held him but she was too strong. He wondered at all the times she had held back.

The blade, one she constructed to look like one any other inmate could have made, struck home, and the man, pathetic and powerless now, expired before her. A smirk of satisfaction lifted her lips. He would never hurt anyone again. It had been so _easy_, almost terrifyingly so. And no one would ever know.

Susan dispelled her fields around the corpse with a thought, and faded from the visible spectrum.


End file.
